American Memorial Tribute
by DaLantis
Summary: Happy Memorial Day!


**A short Memorial Day tribute…**

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Alfred F Jones stood, back stiff, as he stared along the green crisp field. The white washed markers seemed unending as he took them all in to his sight and yet, as he walked through the rows of crosses and graves, each decorated with the nations Flag, he couldn't help but remember those particular soldiers and the sacrifices they had made.

Each name, no doubt older than the one before it – the further back he walked – yet to him, it was though it were yesterday. He could see their smiles as they laughed with their friends. He could see their joy when celebrating with family. He could also see their pain as they were injured during the fight. He could see their desperation while struggling to survive.

He could see too much sometimes, he thought to himself with a sigh, and yet… he wouldn't change it if he could. While it was a burden to carry the memories of so many within himself, it was his burden that he would gladly bear, if only to be the one who remembered each and every life given for the sake of him and his country.

All these graves, all of these crosses and flags… they were people. They were like each and every child born. They had a family, they had friends, and they had a girlfriend and wife and husband all waiting on them back at home. Some had kids and some had pets, each and every one of them had a life they had longed to live. They each had a dream of being a parent, a grandparent, a lover… yet because they had chosen to fight for their fellow countrymen, for their friends and family, they gave up everything they could have been to make a difference. Not only for the life they might have, but for the lives of all those yet to be born.

Alfred shook his head, the sorrow he felt multiplied by those mourning around the country for their loved ones who had passed on. He could feel the loss, the pain and devastation each life taken had caused, and he still bore the marks from those particular events that occurred, where the country was scarred.

The Revolutionary War.

The War of 1812.

The Civil War.

The Vietnam War.

The Korean War.

Pearl Harbor.

World War 1 and 2.

9-11.

Iraq and Afghanistan.

So many deaths. So many broken hearts. So many scars.

And yet…

Alfred smiled as a stray tear slid down his cheek.

He would never forget the songs those soldiers sang, the prayers they whispered at night when they thought no one could hear them. The moments they shared with their buddies and the goodbyes they cried when another soldier gave his all.

He wouldn't ever give those moments back, even if he could, because each was a precious moment to make the country majestic.

Alfred cried, yes. However he cried in happiness, thanking them again and again, for what they had freely given as a soldier in the United States of America, because while no one else might remember their sacrifices in the future years to come, he always will.

Each one, each memory, a precious memorial, in his eyes...

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 **To All Who Have Fought and to those who died and gave their Lives, I THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE.**

* * *

 **Boys into Men**

Written by: Dalantis

Copyright © 2016

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 **"** **Boys become Men.**

 **Men become Old.**

 **Between the two, a story goes untold.**

 **How did the child learn to stand,**

 **How did the boy become a man?**

 **From youth to elder, a lesson is learned,**

 **Through hardships and pain, a stout heart is formed.**

 **That once rebellious spirit, tamed and turned.**

 **Nightmares of good men long lost,**

 **All those souls, now know the true cost.**

 **Nothing is won without a fight,**

 **Nothing is free, a hefty price.**

 **The lives of those men given that dark, cold night.**

 **That boy knew nothing of how to lead them,**

 **His men who gave so much for freedom.**

 **A story of pain, red rain, and gain,**

 **A lore of old, brave, forgotten souls.**

 **New dug crypts, a conqueror now lain.**

 **How did the boy become a man,**

 **And into a soldier who takes a stand?**

 **Boys become men.**

 **Men become old.**

 **Between the two, a story goes untold.**

 **With them the story shall go to the grave,**

 **The story of a boy turned a man hard made."**


End file.
